Your Phone Carries Your Personal Data in the Form of Bacteria

Forget the NSA, as you’ve probably done so, but there’s a new form of phone data that can be gathered by anyone. It’s microbiome, or, ” the collection of microorganisms associated with the personal effects of an individual.”

Everyone knows that smartphones have more bacteria than toilet seats, but not everyone has investigated whether our phone-bacteria can identify us. Luckily, researchers at the University of Oregon have done the legwork. According to Meadow, Altrichter, and Green, there’s significant overlap between just plain ol’ phone bacteria and the bacteria that is specific to you or I.